The history of Hungary from the Hungarian Conquest to Rákóczi’s war of independence

The ancestors of Hungarians took possession of the Carpathian Basin in 895–900 AD, when the area was inhabited by Celts, Romans, Huns and Avars. As the first and unmistakable sign of approximation to the West, Grand Prince Géza of Hungary (971–997 AD) converted to Christianity.

His son, Vajk – who was later given the baptismal name Stephen – was crowned king in 1000 AD in recognition of full right membership to the European Christian community. Stephen (Árpád dynasty, 1000–1038 AD), established the church organization in Hungary, and the royal comitat became the basic unit of public administration.

The Monarch, who was canonized in 1083, depicted his empire as a welcoming, tolerant country in his advices to his son, entitled “Intelmek” (Book of Admonitions). Hungary’s first charter (Golden Bull of 1222) was issued under the realm of Andrew II (Árpád dynasty, 1205–1235), its basis being the English charter Magna Charta.

Material and territorial growth was cut short by the Mongol invasion (1241–1242), but Béla IV (Árpád dynasty, 1235–1270) rebuilt the country, invited settlers to deserted areas and strengthened the defence system with fortresses.

The heritage of the Árpád dynasty left its mark on Hungary: it became the country of religious tolerance, a multiracial state, in which the different ethnic groups enjoyed considerable autonomy.

When the Árpád dynasty died out, the Anjou dynasty gained Hungary’s throne. At the first Congress of Visegrád in 1335, the kings of Bohemia and Poland, and Charles Robert of Hungary (Anjou dynasty, 1308–1342) eased tensions of territorial claims and laid the foundations of a broader cooperation. In 1370, Louis the Great (Anjou dynasty, 1342–1382) seized the Polish throne, which resulted in a personal union between Poland and Hungary. His son-in-law, Sigismund (House of Luxembourg, 1387–1437), who was also King of Germany and Bohemia, and Holy Roman Emperor, threw his enormous international authority into the scales to prevent the Catholicschism, and Europe joined forces under his leadership to stop the expansion of the Ottoman Turks. His successor, Albert became the first Habsburg king of Hungary. (As one of the most prominent royal houses of Europe, the House of Habsburg occupied the Hungarian throne from 1540 to 1918).

In the 15^th century, Regent-Governor John Hunyadi stopped the Turks several times, and in 1456, with the help of John of Capistrano (an Italian theologian and preacher), he scored a victory in Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) which was widely acclaimed in Europe. His son, Matthias Corvinus, (House of Hunyadi, 1458–1490) organised a permanent army of mercenaries, which was Europe’s most powerful and experienced military corps. Matthias was a genuine Renaissance monarch, his library was one of the biggest collections in the continent, and he surrounded himself with humanist philosophers. As he had no legitimate heir, the throne descended to the Lithuanian-Polish Jagiellon dynasty. Vladislaus II (Jagiellon dynasty, 1490–1516) was followed on the throne by his ten-year-old son Louis II (Jagiellon dynasty, 1516–1526), but even the boy’s legal guardians, who led the country, were unable to stop the Ottoman army which crushed the weathered Hungarian troops in 1526, at Mohács.

After the partition of Hungary, the Ottomans took the castle of Buda by ruse (1541). The Sultan’s army ravaged the system of Hungarian border fortresses, but failed to conquer the castle of Eger, despite the fact that it was 30 times superior in number to the defenders. In 1532, they suffered a similar defeat in Kőszeg, where a strong garrison of 1000 soldiers stopped Suleiman, who had prepared to siege Vienna. As Transylvania backed John Zápolya’s claim to the throne instead of Ferdinand of Habsburg, the country split, and the Principality of Transylvania was formed, although it was an Ottoman vassal state for most of its existence. It lived its days of glory under Stephen Bocskai, Prince of Transylvania (1605–1606), who founded schools and libraries, guaranteed freedom of religion to Protestants, and was involved in the Thirty Years’ War.

In the second half of the 17^th century, voices in favour of driving the Turks out got stronger, but a disadvantageous peace treaty was the best the weak country could attain, so more and more people fled from Ottoman Hungary to Upper Hungary or Transylvania. When the Ottomans acknowledged the leader of the exiles, Imrich Thököly as reigning prince of Upper-Hungary, the country split into four.

In 1683 the Turks failed to make their long-cherished dream of invading Vienna come true, but the weakened Transylvania could not avoid its fate either, and become absorbed in the Habsburg Empire. After 150 years of Ottoman dominance, Buda was liberated under the command of Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, and the Austro-Ottoman War was concluded with the Treaty of Karlowitz.

Even though the whole territory of Hungary was liberated from Turk domination, the Habsburgs’ influence continued to grow: Leopold I (House of Habsburg, 1657–1705) made the Hungarian diet of 1687 ratify the male-line succession of the Habsburgs.

At the end of the 17^th century, anti-Habsburg sentiments gained ground in Hungary. The claim for independence first culminated in the uprising of Hegyalja in 1697, whose suppression lead to Francis Rákóczi’s War of Independence in 1703–1711. Eventually, the completely helpless Kuruc army surrendered in the fields of Majtény, and the leadership of the uprising chose voluntary exile.